An intriguing idea

The Queen of Carrots (http://www.carrotduchy.blogspot.com/) has favoured me with an interview. Here is a new game, and being a game involving questions and conversations ('And what,' thought Alice, 'is the use of a book without any pictures or conversations?'), the concept is absolutely irresistible. (The premise is that I am supposed to perpetuate the chain by offering to pose five more questions to any takers on my site, but I'm skipping that step.) Anyway, below are her questions and my replies:

1. How did you find this blog? ;-)
An easy one to start with! I clicked on the link from Kevin & Amy's blog. 'Any friend of Miss Woodhouse...'

2. If you could make everyone on earth read and fully appreciate one work of fiction, what would it be? Why?
This is tricky, because there are far too many unread and under-appreciated books that the world collectively would be so improved by reading! But I think I'll settle upon Pride & Prejudice. Embraced as a romance novel by too many women and dismissed as a girly book by too many men, it is rather a true classic well worth the read: a comedy of manners, a very well-drawn period piece, and a sound moral tale. Aside from the improvement to one's vocabulary inherent to reading such a book, one's mind must be elevated by the notion of people acting with decorum and decency, saying polite and civilised things with wit and refinement, and behaving as they ought, not necessarily as they may want (or else suffering the consequences). But sadly, many people are not open to new ideas, such as brother-in-law Eric, who's a perfectly splendid person in many respects but is determined to disparage Jane Austen's works sight unseen, along with Anne of Green Gables ('I'd rather stick pencils in my eyeballs!') Michael, on the other hand, was perfectly willing to be introduced to new wonders, and so Pride & Prejudice is one of the books I read aloud to him on our honeymoon (along with Scaramouche, The Prisoner of Zenda, and Beau Geste), and now he likes it every bit as much as I do, to the point of feebly protesting last month when Amanda asked to borrow out A&E DVD: 'But what if they break it or lose it? You know, it's time for us to watch it again already.'

3. Before you lies a wand with the power to solve any problem you might have in the future. Do you a) Take it and use it often; b) take it but use it only in very rare instances or not at all; or c) destroy it? Why?
Ah, an obscure hypothetical! Probably b), because I would like the ability to solve seemingly insurmountable problems but I would be cautious about allowing myself to become too dependent upon an easy cop-out for exigent circumstances. Basically it would be nice to have a surefire back-up plan up my sleeve without allowing myself to become slack and begin relying on magic to solve all my problems. I would probably let one person in on the secret to hold me accountable to moderation, lest I get careless and lazy and start falling back on my fall-back plan once too often. I don't think I would destroy it because that would be such a waste. Nor would I use it often because relying on magic too regularly can be dangerous. It always makes you a stronger, more creative, more confident person to rely on your own resources, as evidenced by the fairies' determination to give up magic in Sleeping Beauty. Doing something the hard way will make you appreciate it all the more and open your eyes to a whole new world that otherwise you might take for granted. (From the cake-baking scene: '' "1 tsp...." What's a tisp?') Also, the idea of relying on magic too much brings to mind the sobering story of the Magic Thread in The Book of Virtue, about a little boy who can make time go faster by pulling on a thread and ends up throwing his whole life away because he kept getting impatient at the hard parts.

4. What one thing would you most like to do that you haven't yet done, and what is the main obstacle that stands in the way of you doing it?
I'd love to tour Europe - primarily England - for a month - preferably a year - with Michael. The main obstacle, of course, is time and money. Fortunately this is a self-curing problem: someday, we will both have enough of both, and so it's just a matter of waiting until it happens.

5. List three things that are within your sight as you sit at the computer.
1) First and foremost, the picture of Michael and me at the Lisk's party last summer. Janice snapped it on the spur of the moment and it turned out to be one of the best shots of us together. It's a sunny day, I'm wearing my pearls, and we're both wearing green and looking so happy. Definitely one of my favourites.
2) My bottle of water. I'm on a must-drink-more-water kick right now and am making every effort to get my eight full cups a day in.
3) The telephone. This is exciting because any call could come through at any time; there's an element of the unexpected and the thrill of the unknown in hearing the ring. Michael will probably call at least once, and that will brighten my day.

Dear me, what fun that is! It reminds me a bit of career/life planning classes in college, penning imaginary hypotheticals and exploring ideas and possibilities. I think everyone should go to the Queen's website and play this game.